Tomatoes are one of the few vegetables that can be enjoyed year-round without the need for greenhouses, freezers, or other human inventions. How? Through tomato sauce, one of the greatest culinary inventions in our history, widely used in many recipes from Southern Italy, particularly in Lucanian cuisine.

Does talking about tomatoes in these terms seem exaggerated? If even the famous poet Pablo Neruda wrote a poem called “Ode to the Tomato,” it is probably because this precious food is undeniably one of the most important in Mediterranean cuisine and beyond. In these lines, we will talk about what has been one of the most renowned Lucanian traditions for centuries: the preparation of tomato passata.

Let’s start by saying that if tomato sauce is one of the most recurring ingredients in Lucanian recipes, it is not just for its undeniable goodness. If you are from the South, you know well that, especially in the past, the preparation of sauce bottles was a family affair: from the grandmother to the youngest grandchildren, everyone had a specific role. The containers used are glass jars and bottles, which must necessarily have an airtight seal to best preserve the product. The glass jars and bottles, of course, must be sterilized before receiving the sauce. The variety of tomatoes most suitable for sauce preparation is the cluster type, one of the most representative of Lucanian food. Only perfect tomatoes, those without spots and bruises, that are healthy, fresh, and fragrant, can aspire to become a tasty sauce to season typical Lucanian dishes.

Now let’s briefly describe the procedure for preparing passata. After washing them well, the tomatoes are immersed for a few moments in a pot of boiling water. They are then removed with a skimmer, the excess water is drained, the skin and seeds are removed, and the pulp is cut into small pieces, which are left to rest in a colander for about an hour.

After the resting phase, the pieces are placed in a steel saucepan and cooked over low heat with a few peeled and crushed garlic cloves to flavor everything. As the cooking progresses, the pieces will lose consistency and turn into a tasty sauce. At that point, the passata is filtered with a sieve and seasoned with salt and pepper while still hot. The sauce is then placed in sterilized jars (in which basil leaves have been previously placed) with a funnel, a drizzle of oil is added, and it is sealed. Finally, to create a vacuum seal, the jars of passata are placed in a cauldron with boiling water for about 40 minutes: once cooled, these passatas will finally be ready to become one of the best Lucanian products.